Sensex, Nifty hold gains; Realty stocks gain most

Key Indian benchmarks were holding their early gains in late afternoon session, on the back of firm opening in European markets. In line with the larger peers, the broader indices too continued their rally with the gains of more than half a percent. Heavy buying at the Realty, IT and FMCG counters along with gains led by the major industry leaders such as Yes Bank, TCS and Hindustan Unilever, were helping the indices to maintain their gains in late noon deals. The domestic sentiments were upbeat with Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg’s  statement that the process of economic reforms is still continuing in reasonably major way and noted that there are no signs of de-reform in the system. Besides, the market participants continued to take encouragement with Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar’s statement that India is likely to clock 7.5 percent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the financial year 2019, mainly due to improvement in investment cycle and capacity utilization. Some optimism also came with a report that the Centre has a surplus of Rs 20,000 crore in the GST cess fund as of March 31 which will be used to compensate the states for revenue shortfall suffered due to the roll out of the Goods and Services Tax. However, traders shrugged off Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu’s statement that India, along with many other countries, is concerned about the prospects of a global trade war breaking out after recent US protectionist measures and its possible disastrous consequences for national economies.

On the global front, European markets were trading in green, as tensions in the Korean Peninsula faded after a spectacularly successful inter-Korean summit and data out of China painted a mixed picture of the economy. Asian markets were also trading in green. Back home, in scrip specific development, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) was trading higher after the company successfully synchronised on April 27, 2018, the Unit-3 of the state-of-the-art 2x660 MW Shree Singaji Thermal Power Plant in Madhya Pradesh in record time of 40 months for indigenously built power plants in India.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35184.86, up by 215.16 points or 0.62% after trading in a range of 35004.00 and 35213.30. There were 24 stocks advancing against 6 stocks declining on the index, while 1 stock remain unchanged.

The broader indices were trading in green; the BSE Mid cap index up by 0.65%, while Small cap index was up by 0.73%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Realty up by 1.47%, IT up by 1.43%, FMCG up by 1.26%, Capital Goods up by 1.24% and TECK up by 1.09%, while Energy down by 1.66%, Oil & Gas down by 0.78% and Telecom down by 0.45% were the few losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 4.69%, TCS up by 2.28%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.09%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 1.77% and SBI up by 1.63%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 4.27%, Reliance Industries down by 2.79%, ICICI Bank down by 1.06%, Coal India down by 0.37% and ONGC down by 0.14% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, citing weak fiscal position and lack of structural factors, global ratings agency, Fitch Ratings has retained ‘BBB-’ rating, the lowest investment grade, with a stable outlook for India. This rating was assigned to the country 11 years ago. Besides, the rating agency has forecasted the country’s economic growth at 7.3% for the current fiscal year 2018-19 (FY19) and said that growth will accelerate to 7.5% in FY20. For year ended March 31, 2017, the gross domestic product (GDP) growth is projected at 6.7%.

Fitch Ratings has said that the India’s rating balances a strong medium-term growth outlook and favourable external balances with weak fiscal finances and some lagging structural factors, including governance standards and a still-difficult, but improving, business environment. It added that the Stable Outlook reflects Fitch’s assessment that upside and downside risks to the ratings are broadly balanced.

The rating agency further said that the country’s fiscal finances are weak but current account deficit position is favourable. It also said per capita GDP is the lowest among ‘BBB’ range peers and continued structural reform implementation should enhance productivity. It added that India has the highest medium-term growth potential among the largest emerging markets.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10739.95, up by 47.65 points or 0.45% after trading in a range of 10704.60 and 10759.00. There were 35 stocks advancing against 15 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Yes Bank up by 4.54%, TCS up by 2.43%, Vedanta up by 2.13%, Hindustan Unilever up by 2.09% and SBI up by 1.61%. On the flip side, Axis Bank down by 4.44%, UPL down by 3.55%, Reliance Industries down by 3.12%, Bharti Infratel down by 2.17% and ICICI Bank down by 1.15% were the top losers.

All Asian markets were trading in green; Shanghai Composite added 7.2 points or 0.23% to 3,082.23, FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 9.26 points or 0.5% to 1,872.73, KOSPI Index surged by 22.98 points or 0.92% to 2,515.38, Jakarta Composite gained 77.08 points or 1.3% to 5,996.31, Taiwan Weighted soared by 104.45 points or 0.99% to 10,657.88, Nikkei 225 increased 148.26 points or 0.66% to 22,467.87 and Hang Seng rose 527.78 points or 1.74% to 30,808.45.

All European Markets were trading in green; France’s CAC increased 6.29 points or 0.11% to 5,489.48, UK’s FTSE 100 added 14.8 points or 0.2% to 7,517.01 and Germany’s DAX was up by 27.33 points or 0.22% to 12,608.20.